Politicians win, players lose under new sports law

FOR over two decades, India has waited for a sports law that could transform governance, empower athletes and bring transparency. But what we have been handed is the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 — which far from being progressive, strengthens entrenched power structures, sidelines sportspersons and centralises authority in government hands.On August 16, 2022, the Delhi High Court delivered a landmark judgment in my PIL, directing that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and all national sports federations (NSFs) and their affiliated units align their constitutions with the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011, especially with regard to the 13 critical issues it interpreted. This meant clear limits on age and tenure, cooling-off periods, inclusion of elected athletes with voting rights, exclusion of undemocratic restrictive clauses and barring of tainted officials, amongst others.The Supreme Court reserved its verdict on these issues on April 30, 2025. Before the judgment could be delivered, the government hurried through the Act, effectively neutralising both judicial reforms and international commitments.So, who benefits? Obviously, politicians and long-serving administrators. The Act restores unending tenures, lifts bars on individuals facing criminal charges and ensures that politicians can dominate sports bodies indefinitely. The losers are, clearly, sportspersons. Their democratic participation has been reduced to a token presence, stripped of an independent, meaningful voice or voting power.The Act creates a National Sports Board and a tribunal, which are projected as being independent. In reality, both are government-controlled. The board is appointed by the Centre and has sweeping powers to recognise, suspend or dissolve sports bodies. The tribunal's selection panel is dominated by Union government secretaries. How can such institutions adjudicate fairly when the government itself is often a party to these disputes?By routing appeals only to the Supreme Court and excluding high courts, the Act makes justice virtually inaccessible for most athletes, since only a handful can afford to litigate in the apex court.It undoes the hard-won reforms. The soul of reform was tenure and age limits. The 2022 judgment capped officials to 12 years in office, with a cooling-off period and set an age bar of 70 years. The new Act effectively allows lifetime control. The reforms that brought accountability are now history.Earlier, at least 25 per cent sportspersons of outstanding merit (SOMs) were mandated to be in the general body of NSFs, including the IOA, along with full voting rights. The new Act does away with any player representation in the general body while reducing this to a token four members in the executive committee, viz, two SOMs and other two elected by the Athletes’ Committee, with voting rights left to administrators' discretion. The players once again are no longer stakeholders in their own future but mere puppets in boardrooms.As always, cricket enjoys an escape clause. The rich BCCI is kept outside the law's accountability framework, shielded from responsibility and transparency.The government argues that these changes are necessary to comply with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Olympic Charter and statutes of international federations. Yet, the IOC has already approved reforms aligned with the 2022 Delhi High Court judgment, including tenure and athlete representation. Even the SC endorsed them while supervising IOA elections, pursuant to which PT Usha became its first president, being a sportswoman of outstanding merit.The claim of international non-compliance is untenable and an unfounded prejudicial argument. Instead, India risks the opposite: suspension or even derecognition by the IOC for direct political interference in sports governance.The sports Act, as it is generally called, is not a leap forward. At a time when India dreams of becoming a global sporting superpower, this law ensures that politicians and bureaucrats will continue to suffocate sports and corruption might become the new buzzword. Real reform is still awaited.Rahul Mehra is a sports activist & senior advocate.

Politicians win, players lose under new sports law

Rahul Mehra

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